BELTANE

This lovely Fire festival is coming on 1st May , so it would be a good idea to start to become aware of what “light’s your fire”  – that way you will be ready to align with it on the big day!

Beltane is the perfect time of year to enhance the qualities associated with Fire because it is a festival which resonates with the energy of Fire and new growth and fertility of all kinds. In the old days it was a fertility festival, so why not run with the energy rather than resist it? Align with it and let it flow in, through ad around you, helping you get what you want in your life. Fire is so good at this because its greatest gift to us is change and transmutation… almost instantaneously!

Think about what fills you with all the energies associated with Fire – excitement, energy, creativity, joy and, of course, happiness.. and be aware that Fire will ignite any of these things. I mean if you are happy it will allow you to feel  really, really happy … and who wouldn’t want that?

So think about what you want to use the energy of Beltane for in your life right now and make a conscious connection on 1st May, letting it flow into you and your life.

One easy way to do this is to start meditating with flames – a real one using a candle or just  a visualisation of a flame. All you have to do is breathe the energy into your system.. and a good place to do this is through your solar plexus chakra because this is where the element of Fire lives in your energy system. You can simply use your breath to draw in the energy of Fire into the chakra on your inbreath and release anything it has cleared as black smoke on your outbreath. After a while when the energy of the chakra has been cleared completely, just breathe the energy of Fire into your system to enhance whatever else you want to do. It really is that simple.

The most basic use of Fire in the chakra system is simply to draw the energy in to cleanse each chakra in turn because that’s what Fire does – it transmutes negative energy. So you can just do that if you don’t want to do anything else. Simply sit with a candle and breathe the energy created by the flame into each chakra (and energy body) until you feel really, really clean.

You can also breathe Fire into all the other chakras to stimulate the qualities held in them. If you draw it into the base, you can intend to ignite and enhance the life force energy stored there … if you draw it into your sacral, you can intend to ignite your creativity. You get the idea! The only thing which will limit what can do with the energy of Fire will, of course, be what you think you can or cannot do with it. It will be your mind which limits you, not the Fire element.

So before 1st May think about what you can do to bring the energy of Fire into your life in a very real way. Then on the day make an effort to do something to bring you into resonance with the first day of Spring on the Wheel of the Year… yes, Summer doesn’t start until summer solstice. We are just entering the really potent first stage of outward growth at Beltane, fuelled by Fire to bring about radical change in our lives through the transmutational qualities of the element of Fire. How exciting is that?

So a few ways to do connect with Fire in a practical way are:
• Create something – anything! As long as it makes you happy while you are creating it!
• Give up being responsible (within reason, I hasten to add!) for the day and just do something which is fun and brings you a great deal of pleasure.
• Find a way to stimulate all five senses – but only with things that please you.
• Make a list of things which bring joy into your life and do at least one of them!
• Carnelian is the crystal associated with Fire, Wear it or meditate with it, asking it to bless you with the energy of Fire which resides within it.
The only thing I would add to that list is possibly – don’t forget the fire elementals – the very lovely salamaders. Meditate with them. Journey with them and see where they take you …. They are lovely beings! Though, of course, as usual, I may be a tad biased being shaman!

A simple Fire meditation is to connect to the Fire element held in the Sun, which is, of course, made of Fire!

• GROUND! This is a powerful energy – you know how BIG the Sun is, after all!!! Connecting with it on a conscious level can be very impressive!
• Sit quietly and intend to breathe in the energy of the Sun, asking for it to ignite a spark in your solar plexus and light your Inner Fire (or the Fire element within you).
• See this spark growing and growing with each in breath – that is – let Air feed the Fire – and spread out to fill you completely. This energy will help you to connect to and enhance your will power, your creative ability, your ability to take action and sexual expression.
• Stay with it for a while and watch how it burns – this will tell you a lot about yourself. Is it a small flame or a large one? Does it burn with great heat or not? Does it keep going out? Learn from the amount of Fire element you hold in your energy system.
• After a while – make sure you disconnect fully – on every level – and earth any excess energy in your system which will have been generated by connecting with a star!

In its negative aspect, the Fire element can also spark your anger, your fear and prevent you from taking action if you are not properly aligned to your will power. None of these things are wrong. They are just showing you that your Fire energy is not properly balanced in your system in some way, but after you notice them you can do something about it.

Also you can have a lack of Fire in your system or an excess and either of these will be easy to spot! If you lack Fire, stimulate it in some way, and if you have an excess – use Water to balance it. You can visualise Water in some form in your solar plexus chakra, or you can use an aquamarine at the chakra point with the intention of balancing your Fire element. This crystal holds the energy of the Water element within it.

So – spend some time between now and Beltane thinking about Fire and how its fabulous, vibrant energy can help you.

Bright Blessings.
Gailx

www.crystaldragongail.com
info@crystadragongail.com

FLIDAIS – YES IT’S REALLY A GODDESS NOT A SPELLING MISTAKE!

I was asked about Flidais the other day so since I knew nothing about her, I looked her up and I wrote the piece below. I was going to save it for Mabon, but decided that was probably a foolish move because by September who knows if I would ever find it again if I put it in that proverbial safe place..!

But, the more I typed, the more I became aware of her energy and it occurred to me that with all the energy shifts in March and the chaos this month with all the heart opening energy, Flidais may just be the perfect goddess for us to work with now as well.

Flidais represents the cycles of growth and rebirth … and we are all growing and being reborn relentlessly at the moment as old, redundant bits of us die…but, not literally, of course! In many ways she carries the same energy that Pluto is blessing us with at the moment, so it would certainly benefit all of us to work with her as well to enhance the healing process and clear out all the old and embody the new… and come into balance.

So read the piece below and see if she calls to you.

If she doesn’t call to you now, remember her in September and work with her then. But, seriously, anyone who is going to help re-connect us with our personal power and bless us with abundance and creativity…what else could we want possibly want?

Balance alone in this volatile energetic time is a huge gift all on its own … I’ll be asking for it right now! Maybe you should too … otherwise why would I have been asked about a very obscure Celtic goddess and why would you be reading the blog?

Bright Blessings Gailx

info@cryutaldragongail.com
www.crystaldragongail.com


Celebrate Flidais at Mabon
Celtic Earth Goddess, Lady of the Forest, Goddess of the Hunt and Healing Goddess
(pronounced flee-ish)
Quality: Balance
Autumn Equinox is also known as Mabon – a festival which celebrates the end of the harvest. It is a day of perfect balance when dark and light are equal and it is the start of our journey into the dark time of the year. She represents both our domestic and our wild natures so she is the perfect goddess to work with on a day which is perfectly balanced.

Flidais first appears in the ancient mythology as an Earth Mother – mother of the Irish cultivator heroes, Arden, and Bé Téite and the “she-farmers” Bé Chuille and  Dinand. She taught them to cultivate and work the earth for their community. Nowadays, she is seen as a woodland goddess and, as the Lady of the Forest, she protects wild fauna and flora. But in the old tales she is always connected to domestic and wild animals. Deer and cattle are her sacred animals, both of whom she milks and she is said to calls all the wild animals “her cattle.” This association with milk and milking also shows she was mostly likely a goddess of Abundance as well.

You work with Flidais when you feel out of balance because she represents the cycles of growth and rebirth. She also embodies our domestic and wild natures, so she will help us find that balance within ourselves. She can connect with the deepest, wild parts of ourselves, including our sexuality, relieving any guilt modern civilization has created around this part of us.

Flidais can also help us re-connect with our own sense of empowerment and as a shape-shifter, she can helps us shift the shape of our lives. She allows us to see everything in a new light, and blesses us with abundance and creativity.  .

Additional Info:
• Flidais is also a shape-shifter, a goddess of Sexuality, and a healing goddess.
• Her colours are brown and green.
• She rides a chariot drawn by deer.
• Her name means doe and deer can represent her
• Trees are also sacred to Flidais
• She is the protector of the trees and the animals of the forest.
• She is the protector of the poor she will help any who call on her, including outcasts.
• She provides for all who rely on her.
• She claims the right to give her nurturing, abundance, and sensuality to whomever she chooses.
• She is also known as a Goddess of the Hunt – similar to Diana and Artemis, though she is not a virgin goddess

QUAN YIN

I have been thinking of doing a blog on Quan Yin for some time. She has been nudging me towards my keyboard … very gently… for a while. I just didn’t know where to start. I mean – even her name has many spellings … Quan Yin, Kuan Yin, Kwan Yin and Guanyin.

I know her simply as Quan… and I was astonished to find she has been with me all my life. I was just so daft I didn’t even notice her until I was in my late 40’s. Quite how I managed to ignore such a powerful presence and such a beautiful energy never ceases to amaze me, but I did. It just goes to show how blind we can be if we do not want to see, or we are afraid to really open our hearts. We do anything to avoid the pain… the trouble was I never realised Quan Yin was the answer to my pain. But, thankfully, she got to me in the end, and my heart opened… whether I was ready or not! Quan Yin, it seems, really can work miracles, bless her.

Of all the light beings who have helped me over the years, Quan Yin has probably done the most in her own subtle but powerful way – apart from the very lovely Metatron – but that’s is not just one other blog it’s probably a whole series. He’s like that!  And I have become aware over the last few weeks that she is wanting to help a lot of other people. But how to put down in words all she can do? An impossible task because even though I could quite happily write for pages and pages about her, it all amounts to nothing until you actually experience her beautiful, peaceful and deeply healing energy.

Quan Yin holds, unconditional love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion and all of us could benefit from any one of those qualities, or, in fact, all four of them! So you see why she is such a help on any healing journey. And my favourite title for her – although she has so many it is almost ridiculous – is She Who Hears The Cries of The World.

When you are in trouble and you feel alone and you feel no one can help or no one is listening …. Quan Yin is there. She is a Divine Mother and she holds the same energy as Mother, Mary of God in Christianity, or Isis in Egypt, or Shakti in Hinduism. But, of all those goddesses, I find her the most approachable, the most kind and helpful when you feel vulnerable and in need of a little TLC, the most easy to talk to and the most wonderful goddess to sit with. You can heal just by being in her energy…. Do you get how much I love her? She is quite simply… beloved….

So, although I could sit here and type nice lists, telling you which crystal to use when working with her, which colour is best to use on your altar, what things are associated with her… they are just words. What you need to do is just ask her in your own way (although there are many rituals you can look up on the internet if you want to) to come and sit with you. All you have to really do is Just be in her energy and breathe it into your heart. Let her energy open your heart and allow her to bless you over and over again until you really begin to understand unconditional love. It can flow relentlessly from her heart directly into your heart, if you allow it, not to mention accept it. Can you truly imagine love with no strings attached? Not many of us can when we start out because we are conditioned to give and receive love in an entirely different way … unfortunately for us!

But unconditional love – just being loved warts and all – is an astonishing thing to experience and sitting with Quan Yin gives you direct access to this and you can let it flow into your heart … don’t think about it. Just do it! What have you got to lose? Apart from your pain, your fear, your anger, your anxiety, your sadness, and any other negative emotional state that plagues you…  just let Quan Yin’s four qualities flow into your heart and eradicate everything else! Even if you do it a little bit at a time, you will get there in the end. I promise you..if nothing else, I am living proof it actually works. I resisted for over forty years for goodness sake. But she got me in the end and changed my life radically… for the better, I hasten to add.

I know I usually give you lots of information and things to do, but it is so much better to find your own way to call Quan Yin, your own way to accept her peaceful and loving energy into your heart. But if you really need something to get you started … find a recording of her mantra Om Mani Padme Hum and play it while you ask her to join you. This is one of the mostly deeply healing mantras you are ever likely to encounter. You will feel better even if you just sit and listen without asking Quan Yin to join you. Try it and see… there are loads of versions on youtube if you don’t have a CD. But make sure you find one you like. There all sound different, depending on who is chanting them. My personal favourite is by Deborah Van Dyke – here’s the reference. One click and you are away … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2m98JO2g3s

Or if you want a crystal – the standard one to use and place on your heart while you are working with Quan Yin is, of course, rose quartz. But that can be harsh if you are vulnerable. I would personally recommend pink kunzite. Its energy is almost as gentle and exquisite as Quan Yin’s, so it works really well. Or if you and hurting inside– go for green aventurine. It’s is so gentle and it nurtures you as you heal and grow. It is the energy of the first green shoots in spring time… perfect for this kind of work.

So, after reading this what do you do? Close down your computer, find a quiet place and ask Quan Yin to join you. That is truly all you have to do. Just ask her to come and sit with you and let her heal you on all levels. I promise it will be one of the most profound experiences of your life… so far …. There are plenty of other goddess who can help you embody your Authentic Self in many other ways once Quan Yin has opened and activated your heartspace in so many new and exciting ways.

Journey well with her….

Bright Blessings

Gailxx

www.crystaldragobngail.com

info@crystaldragongail.com